1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a method of and system for authorizing purchases made over a computer network and, more particularly, to a method of and system for authorizing purchases of goods and services over the Internet or other non-secure computer network using an automated-teller-machine (ATM) card, debit card or any other card or account identifier which may require a valid personal-identification-number (PIN) or other authentication token for transaction authorization.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of personal computers by consumers to purchase goods and services over the Internet via the World Wide Web and e-mail has become very popular in recent years and constitutes an ever-increasing part of the economy.
As those of ordinary skill in the art know, the Internet is a global computer network which comprises a vast number of interconnected computers. The interconnected computers exchange information using, inter alia, e-mail and the World Wide Web (hereinafter, the “WWW”).
E-mail refers to the transmission of electronic mail messages over the Internet from one computer to another. The WWW, on the other hand, allows a Web server computer system to send graphical Web pages of information to a remote client computer system. The remote client computer system can then display the Web pages using a browser program or the like.
Each Web page of the WWW is uniquely identifiable by a Uniform Resource Locator (“URL”). To view a specific Web page, a client computer system specifies the URL for that Web page in a request (e.g., a HyperText Transfer Protocol (“HTTP”) request). The request is forwarded to the Web server that supports the Web page. When the Web server receives the request, it sends the Web page to the client computer system. When the client computer system receives the Web page, it typically displays the Web page using a browser. A browser is a special-purpose application program that effects the requesting of Web pages and the displaying of Web pages. Commercially available browsers include Microsoft Internet Explorer™ and Netscape Navigator™.
Web pages are typically defined using HyperText Markup Language (“HTML”) or other languages. As those of ordinary skill in the art know, HTML provides a standard set of tags that define how a Web page is to be displayed. When a user indicates to the browser to display a Web page, the browser sends a request to the server computer system to transfer to the client computer system an HTML document that defines the Web page. When the requested HTML document is received by the client computer system, the browser displays the Web page as defined by the HTML document. The HTML document contains various tags that control the displaying of text, graphics, controls, and other features. The HTML document may contain URLs of other Web pages available on that server computer system or other server computer systems.
Because of its graphical and user friendly nature, the WWW is particularly well suited for e-commerce, i.e., the transacting of business on-line. Today, thousands of companies throughout the world provide goods and services to consumers using Web sites. Consumers can connect to these Web sites and purchase the goods and/or services offered by the particular companies.
In making a purchase over the Internet, the typical consumer uses a credit card or ATM card. After making his purchase selection, the consumer transmits his card information over the Internet to the on-line merchant. The on-line merchant then contacts the issuing bank to verify the card information and obtain authorization to complete the transaction. Depending on the response from the bank, the on-line merchant either accepts or rejects the purchase.
Because the Internet is a non-secure (i.e., public) network, there is a danger that the consumer's credit card or ATM card information will be intercepted by a third party. If that third party is dishonest, he/she can make illegal charges to the credit card or, in the case of an ATM card, remove money directly from the consumer's bank account. In recent years, numerous approaches have been implemented to reduce this security risk. The most popular approach has been sophisticated encryption techniques which render the credit card or ATM card data virtually unreadable to third parties, such as 128-bit secure-sockets-layer (SSL) encryption.
When making purchases over the Internet using an ATM card, however, security considerations take on an added importance because, unlike with transactions at ATM machines, PINs or other authentication tokens, such as biometric signatures or passwords, are presently not used in ATM card transactions on the Internet. Thus, should the ATM card number fall into the hands of an unscrupulous third party, the card-holder's entire bank account can be wiped out through fraudulent Internet transactions.
One way to overcome this problem is to require the use of authentication tokens in ATM transactions on the Internet. This has not been possible to date, however, because on-line merchants do not have the ability to verify PINs or other authentication tokens. Additionally, it is not desirable to provide the on-line merchant with both the ATM card number and the corresponding authentication token since unscrupulous employees of the on-line merchant can use the authentication token to illegally access the card-holder's bank account and withdraw money therefrom.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new method of and system for authorizing purchases made over the Internet using an ATM card wherein a valid authentication token is required in order to obtain authorization for a given purchase. It is another object of the present invention to provide a new method of and system for authorizing purchases made over the Internet using an ATM card wherein a valid authentication token is required in order to obtain authorization for a given purchase, and wherein the authentication token is not supplied to the on-line merchant. It is another object of the present invention to provide a new method of and system for authorizing purchases made over the Internet using an ATM card wherein a valid authentication token is required in order to obtain authorization for a given purchase, and wherein any one or more of a plurality of authentication token types may be used. Other objects of the present invention will become apparent from the following discussion.